Ready When You Least Expect

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Published: Tuesday, 06 December 2022 13:53

Message for Advent 1 on Matthew 24:36-44, Romans 13:11-14 for St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Richardson, Texas. You can view a video of this sermon by going to our YouTube page and watching the worship video here. 

And here it is, one of the Bible passages Christians have used to terrorize people for centuries. Everywhere else you go this weekend; you hear Christmas carols and holiday cheer. Not so much at church—I know it’s a rude awakening for those who are new here.

The season of Advent gets us ready for Jesus’ to come—it would seem it is for the birth of the babe in Bethlehem, and that is part of it, but it is really about preparing us for the second coming of Jesus at the end of time. We become aware of how much the world needs a Savior, and we feel more deeply, the disconnect between the world as it is, and the world as it should be—the world we envision as God’s kingdom. So, Advent begins with an apocalyptic passage about the end time when Jesus will return and set it all straight. (I know we heard this just a couple weeks ago from Luke—lucky us—but Jesus gave me something new to say!)

Even though Jesus clearly tells us that no one knows the hour or the day of his return, it’s human nature to try and figure it out anyway. We are so uncomfortable with mystery, with living in the gray. We have grown accustomed to data analytics, artificial intelligence, long-range forecasting, 538 poll aggregators, Doppler radar, storm trackers and so on —all of which feed into our control-freak nature, that to step into the mystery of faith, into a relationship with God who does not give us all the answers—well, that proves difficult if not downright impossible.

We might take a cue from Jesus himself, who seems comfortable with this mystery; he, himself is not privy to the answers either. And for all of our imaginings about judgement and who is in and who is out, the truth of the matter is, this passage does not identify punishment nor reward. In Noah’s time, it was not good to be left behind and swept away; but to first century ears, it was much better to be left behind than to be taken by the Romans--when one could be imprisoned, and possibly tortured or worse. The passage is purposely ambiguous—why? Because About that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father!

So, what are we do to?

• We embrace not knowing (take a deep breath)
• we accept we are not in control (relax your shoulders)
• we lean into the gray of our relationship with God where we do not have all the answers (unclench your jaw and your hands)
• we sink into mystery (relax your hips and your feet. When you relax all this main muscles the rest of your body follows)

As we do this, Jesus calls us to pay attention, just like we when read a mystery novel, or meet someone new and get to know them. We keep alert, we remain vigilant, watching for the details, looking for the signs of God’s presence and power that will keep showing up when we least expect them, giving us clues to God’s complete presence and love for us in Jesus.

For even in the mystery among questions that do not and will not have answers, we do have rock solid assurance of that which is most important: We live in the time of resurrection and the defeat of death—Jesus has already conquered our most feared unknown—death itself—so we already know that whether we are left here or there, whether in this life or the next, whether next week or the next millennia, we are with Christ Jesus, raised from the dead, whom God sent to save us.

This truth gives us new ways of living in the mystery of what has not yet been resolved in this life. Romans tells us to “wake up sleepy head! Put on the armor of light!”—look for resurrection, watch for life, be vigilant in noticing the power of Jesus’ victory over this present age in all of your circumstances!”

When I went into prayer and meditation and asked the Lord what he wanted me to say to you to today, I heard exactly this: Resurrection is around us all the time, every day—we just do not see it because we expect to see bad news, destruction, and death. We experience what we expect to experience. We see what we expect to see.

Psychologists and scientists have studied this for decades. It is called “motivated perception”—and studies show that what we see is biased, selective, and malleable. Our thoughts, wishes and preferences affect what we see and perceive. Well, be biased toward resurrection! Be selective about looking for the life of Christ! Be malleable when it comes to seeking the good, the noble, the Christlike, the signs of hope, and renewal and life! Change the channel in your brain and attitude to the Resurrection-Jesus Station! Tune in to RJS—this is better than all the other alphabet soup out there—MSNBC, FOX, CNN, CBS and so on!

Jesus calls us, as disciples, to be people with great expectations—to be people who expect to see and experience resurrection— to prefer, wish, think, and be motivated to see Jesus at work in the world. Jesus calls us to look for and participate in instances of new life, healing, forgiving, transforming, comforting, feeding, clothing, praying, housing, and offering hope in all circumstances. Our job is to look for Jesus everywhere, to watch for him, to be vigilant in seeking him—to train our eyes, our minds, our brains, and our attitude toward the expectation of seeing and experiencing Jesus breaking into our everyday life and situations.

Did you know that in Matthew, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary arrive at the tomb empty-handed? They do not have spices to anoint Jesus’ dead body. They believe Jesus who announced that he would rise after 3 days. They are not going to see the dead but the living—they are showing up expecting resurrection! And they are the only ones who actually get a front row seat to the earthquake, the angel, the empty tomb, and the risen Lord on the road!

Where has new life and resurrection broken into your life recently? And if you did not call it resurrection, can you see it that way, now?

• • Maybe it was a conversation over Thanksgiving, with a loved one in-person, or who lives far away
  • or being able to travel to be with people you rarely see;
  • maybe it was a moment in nature when you felt peaceful, and at one with God,
  • perhaps it was a connection with a stranger while out shopping
  • maybe it was cuddling with your pet in a moment of blissful hibernation
  • or the attention of the healthcare workers attending to someone you love,
  • or the love and generosity of an unexpected gift--

After Paul and I discussed the opportunity for him to work in a position at his own church, I was driving home and started praying about what I was going to do about an Administrative Assistant coming up to the holidays, and the Holy Spirit immediately said to me, “hire your son, Daniel.” That’s the honest truth. I did not think of it myself, even though the option was right in front of me, living in my own house. Now I know it was a moment of resurrection!

Since the ransomware wiped our office drive, we have had on-going computer issues, and this week, Daniel has solved two of them—the email scam and the fact that my emails were not being received by church office computer. If you have ever found it impossible to get anything done during one of your busiest seasons because of computer problems and then had some of it fixed, you know it’s an experience of new life and resurrection!

We are here together because we have great expectations of experiencing resurrection—in each other, in the grace of forgiveness, in bread and wine, in music, in the children, in conversation, in community!

Jesus’ resurrection is around us all the time, every day. How and when Jesus’ resurrection will show up in your life and my life this week remains a mystery.

Your calling is to watch for it, recognize it, and then to share it! Every day, we will have Advent posts on St. Luke’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter—please respond to these posts, sharing where you see Jesus’ resurrection and new life breaking into your daily experience!

We prepare for Jesus’ second coming by expecting to see the new life of Christ everywhere. Jesus may come back when we least expect him—but when we are looking to see his presence and power every day, we will be ready when he shows up!

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Jesus Reigns From the Bottom Up

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Published: Saturday, 03 December 2022 17:52

Christ the King on Luke 23:33-43 , Colossians 1:11-20 at St. Luke's Lutheran Church, Richardson, Texas

Sometimes it is when we are exhausted and depleted that we are most open to God’s presence and the Spirit’s movement in our soul–our control needs and defenses are down, and we are not trying to manage without God.

I had this experience this past week while reading this passage from Luke, which I have read more times than I can count in my life, and certainly over the last three and half decades since I entered seminary and started preaching. Since coming to a church called St. Luke’s, I have paid careful attention to what it means to preach from the Gospel of St. Luke.

But late Monday night, I was so weary from getting my dad into the hospital the night before, going on little sleep, and having had a full day. I thought, I just have to read the Gospel lesson for this Sunday before I go to bed so at least I have it in my head. I could barely keep my eyes open, I read slowly and methodically, like a 5th grader, to absorb it in my tiredness. As I read, it was like the Holy Spirit lit up my mind, and showed me something I had never seen before–nor even read about from scholars–I’m sure some scholar has written about this–I just have not read it or seen it.

In the midst of agony and pain, three times, Jesus is mocked and tempted to save himself:

• First, “the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God,”
• Second, the soldiers mocked him, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”
• Third, one of the criminals tempts him, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

Where have we heart this before? This is an exact echo of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness in Luke 4 that came on the heels of his Baptism: Jesus fasts for 40 days; he is suffering and famished and that is when he was tempted by the devil three times, to do what? To use his power to save himself, even using the word “if”:

• “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.”
• If you, then, will worship me, all the kingdoms of the world will be yours.”
• “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from from the Temple for the angels will bear you up.”

The temptations conclude with this verse: “When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.” The opportune time is on the cross–the opportune time is this text for today when he receives three more temptations for Jesus to save himself, and to use his power to retaliate and to escape, rather than to absorb evil, and conquer death.

“Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Father forgive them for they do not know that they are unwittingly being instruments of the evil one. At the end of these three temptations on the cross, the other criminal sees the truth and asks Jesus, “remember me when you come into your kingdom, and Jesus says to him, “truly today, you will be with me in paradise.”

For you literary fans, Luke has set up a kind of chiastic or mirrored structure at the beginning of Jesus’ earthly and at the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry: At the beginning, Jesus has a moment of paradise– he experiences union with God in Baptism when he receives the Holy Spirit–then he goes to the wilderness and experiences the 3 temptations to save himself. Then, at the end of his life on the cross–he is scourged, experiences 3 more temptations to save himself, then it is followed by a moment of paradise– union with God in the resurrection.

Why does this matter, except to Bible nerds like me who cannot believe they never saw this before Monday night? This literary structure matters because we have to absorb how Luke is working in every way possible to make sure that we get the point: Jesus’ kingdom reigns from the bottom up, and never the top down.

We have the hardest time comprehending this, so he puts it in the structure as well as the content of his Gospel. We only understand power over, domination, selfish use of power, especially when one is suffering. The human pattern is always to lash out and to exercise imperial power, violence, domination, aggression, whatever is self-serving. That is the way of the world, the way of empire, imperialism, colonialism, war and politics and yes, religion.

Jesus’ own followers, the religious leaders, those in need, those in government ask him or expect him to use his power in this way–to overthrow Rome like a real Messiah, to gain political power, to reinforce traditional enemies, and social structures, to uphold religious authorities and their dominance, to keep women and the Samaritans in their place.
But Jesus is the king of a bottom-up kingdom–a kingdom whose very essence is love, whose deepest value is justice, whose economy is the level playing field of access and inclusion for all–and no king of God’s reign can rule this kingdom if he gives in to save himself rather than the whole human race and all of creation with him.

So from the moment Jesus’ ministry begins, Luke shows us a Jesus who had all the power of heaven and earth available to him–and always uses it to expand this kingdom that reversed everything they ever thought about power.

So, Luke brackets Jesus’ ministry with two devilish temptations where Jesus refuses to misuse power to save himself and instead uses power to benefit everyone from the bottom up. For Jesus comes from a God whose true power is to transform through love, enacting justice and peace and human flourishing for all. And this is the heart of Luke’s Gospel as he tells the story of Jesus’ ministry:

• Jesus commended their enemies and welcomed them in the story of the Good Samaritan
• Jesus loved tax collectors and prostitutes into transformed lives–and all of the sick, the widows, and everyone at the bottom
• Jesus included and empowered women as followers and disciples, especially in Gospel of Luke; this in a culture where women couldn’t even speak to a man who was not her husband,
• Jesus offered good news healing, love and new life to foreigners –this was an inclusive Gospel where Jesus did not reinforce the primacy of religious dominance

The whole human enterprise can be reimagined from a different viewpoint–from love at the bottom, from the margins, with the least, in the suffering. When we all can gather here with Jesus at this basic place of human connection, perhaps then, we can begin to see God’s great purpose is power through, and power together, and power with and never power over.

But we will never grasp this truth if Jesus saves himself in the wilderness, or saves himself on the cross. The devil pulled out all the stops and tempted our “King ” at his most vulnerable, and in the most terrible agony; but even in the worst suffering, Jesus reigns from the bottom up, with complete love, with absolute justice, for the fulfillment of human flourishing together, a new human community.

Jesus rules, with a love that will never save itself unless this love brings along you, and you and you, and the suffering of Ukraine, and those that died of Covid, and the increasing number of teens with mental health crises, and the refugees at the border, and the mom & children who came to our free breakfast yesterday who had no shoes or coats due to an apartment fire. And one of our members went out and bought shoes while this family stayed warm in the church and the kids played in the nursery. Because we had a coat drive, we also gave them coats, and also coats to another family.

This is how Jesus asks us to follow him. To participate in loving together, in community together–together for joy– (our stewardship theme) in efforts in whatever circles we work or live or go to school in, that focus on human flourishing and transformation through love, leaving behind those thoughts, and behaviors that replicate patterns of domination, exploitation, divisive pride, and “us vs. them.”

Because Jesus did not use his power to save himself, but used it instead to save all of us, his power is always available to us enabling us to embody his kingdom and his love for others in our daily life.

Colossians promises that we “are made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, that you may be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.”

Through his glorious power, we participate with Jesus in making the kingdom manifest from the bottom up, with the suffering and hurting and the marginalized on up–until all human flourishing is made complete–that’s why discipleship–that’s why transformed hearts, transforming others through the selfless, empowering love of Christ which flows from the wilderness and from the cross.

My suggestion for your prayer this week is, “Lord, who can I help you love today?” Yesterday at the free breakfast, it was very clear. Two families with no coats. A mom with kids who had no shoes.

Remember this is not a love you generate from yourself, that you have to muster; this is the eternal power of God, the glorious strength of Jesus of Christ, raised from the dead and ruling the kingdom of love and justice that will reign in all earth—it is this power working through you that can bring hope and a transformed heart in new life from the bottom up.

Lord, who can I help You love today? This is why we are the church, together for joy!

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Claim the Victory Now

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Published: Wednesday, 30 November 2022 16:00

Pentecost 23 on Luke 21:5-19 at St. Luke's Lutheran Church, Richardson, Texas

Even though Jesus is speaking about the future in our passage from Luke his words sound very present—not only to his audience in Jerusalem 2000 years ago, but they sound very contemporary to us today.

Every generation, from Jesus’ time to 2022 lives with calamity, war, and illness. For the first century it was the tyranny of the Roman empire that led to exploitation, violence, poverty, Jesus’ crucifixion, and eventually the destruction of the Temple that the disciples so admire in our text.

Today, we too hear of wars and insurrections, great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; dreadful portents and great signs from heaven. I do not need to detail or review the evening new for you. 

However, none of this means we are living in the end times. Every generation thinks they are living in the end times, because in every time there is suffering, illness, pain, conflict, war, and natural disaster. It just feels like it beccause WE are the ones going through it. But I daresay sin and human need today is not worse than the Holocaust, or the Spanish flu on the heels of World War I or the black death of the Middle Ages, to name a few.

This passage from Luke is descriptive of reality, not necessarily predictive of what will happen in the end times. But there is a message in this and other apocalyptic passages in the Bible.

We look at around at all the heartache and destruction happening in the world and like the disciples do, we too, want to find our center, we want to find what will last, what gives us peace, what feels stable, what brings beauty and hope in the midst of turmoil.

The disciples look around at their oppressed, violent, exploited society and as they behold their Temple, they say, “here it is! Here is what is beautiful, and stable, here is our center, and the structure that will give us peace, hope, and strength and something to count on.”

Can you blame them? The Temple had just gone through 80 years of expansion and renovation by Herod the Great. It had immense 67 foot by 12 foot slabs of white marble. Blue, scarlet, and purple Babylonian tapestries made of fine linen formed a veil at the entrance. Herod had installed gold and silver-plated gates and gold-plated doors throughout.

It felt secure. It represented not only strength, and beauty, and worship, but also the gifts of the devoted faithful—surely this is something Jesus could affirm as a sign of goodness and stability, in the turmoil all around them.

But Jesus says, “No! You’re looking at the wrong thing! You are looking for temporary structures to offer supernatural protection; you are looking for earthly strength to battle spiritual powers; you are looking for a temporal creation to offer an eternal dwelling place. The things of this world will crumble—they are not the source of your strength, power, or hope.

“Yes, life is hard—it will be hard for every generation who chooses to follow me in this fallen world – for there will always be a battle with evil, and war, false teachers, hardship, and those who are against you, so you cannot look to a temple, a building, the structures of this world—be it a physical edifice, or a religious system, a governmental system, an elected official, or a great leader to save you…

“You are on the right search, but you are looking in the wrong place. You have to look higher! Higher than the marble walls of the Temple, higher than the blue, scarlet and crimson tapestries, higher than the mountains themselves..

“You must look to God, you must trust in God the creator of the universe to give you hope and strength and power. And you must look to Me whom God sent, who will be with you in all things, no matter what. I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to with or contradict…

"For in the midst of your turmoil this is the most important thing for you to know: 'not a hair of your head will perish.'

Not a hair of your head will perish.

"God has got you. God will save you. God wins! No matter how awful the world looks—God always wins in the end. The kingdom comes. The kingdom is here because I, Jesus, am here.”

So, siblings in Christ, do not look at all the destruction and think that evil is taking over—Jesus is just describing reality until the kingdom comes in it’s fulfillment. We knew this already, it’s always been this way. Stop being surprised by sin! It's the same story over and over--we learned it in world history in high school. There’s nothing new under the sun. Different characters, countries, names—same story, same sins: war, insurrection, disease, power through violence.

The real story is this: God wins. All apocalyptic passages in the Bible including this passage and the whole book of Revelation can be summed up in these 2 words: God wins. “Not a hair of your head will perish.”

We get all caught up in “when? and is this time and is it now? and who’s predicting it? and should we drink the koolaid, ride a comet, and are we going to be Left Behind?" and and blah, blah, blah. I am so sick of this BS (can say BS from the pulpit?!) Don't read those books and stop wasting your time and energy!

That’s not the point! It does not matter! Scripture tells us at least 5 times (Mark 13, Matthew 24, 1 Thessalonians 5, 2 Peter 3, and the book of Revelation) that no one knows the day or the hour that Jesus will return at the end of time.

All we need to know is that God wins the battle with evil –Jesus Christ descended to the dead for 3 days and defeated Satan and he has risen victorious and given us his Spirit, so look to Christ and claim his power over evil. Look higher to the God of all creation and the Son he sent to save us, to persevere through hard times claiming the victory of Christ over sin, death, and the devil.

• We look at the world, and we see the end, but Jesus sees beginning!
• We see destruction and Jesus sees fulfillment!
• We see things falling apart and Jesus sees God winning!

So if you want more than 2 words, “God wins” to explain this passage and apocalyptic passages, I will give you 3 sentences:
• Life is hard in a fallen state
• Persevere in the power and hope of Jesus Christ who already defeated death
• God always wins

God calls us to participate through the power of Jesus Christ in doing good and expanding love and manifesting the kingdom. Do not allow the enemy to have its way. Always remember that not a single hair of your head will perish because God always wins.

This is why in our baptismal liturgy and when new members join the church, we ask the question about renouncing evil, renouncing all the ways defy God and the powers of sin that rebel against God—because Jesus Christ has won the victory and we commit and claim to be on God’s side trusting that the victory is already won!

It is no accident that we had a ransomware attack on our computer system at the same time we had nearly 30 members join the church—when mission becomes successful, the enemy gets busy. If we were all "pew potatoes, the enemy wouldn't bother with us. But we all can remain faithful to Jesus and his power and the vision he has given us for a transformational mission in this church.

I cannot tell you how many times over the last 2 weeks I have said, “get behind me Satan, the battle is already won.” So when I say that we do not let the enemy have it’s way, that we look higher than the buildings to God, to the cross and the empty to tomb, and to the creator of all for whom the battle has already been won, I mean it literally, and I mean it in daily life.

We can joyfully and purposefully endure in our faith and building the kingdom because not even wars or hunger or ransomware can separate us from God or stop the kingdom from coming to fulfillment. God wants us to use these times to live according to God’s kingdom and power and not the world’s sin.

That’s why our capital campaign is not about the building—it is about making sure the building is a tool for the mission of Jesus Christ—for bringing people to faith—so others know that God has won the victory so they can have joy and peace and love and forgiveness especially when life is hard and painful.

That’s why our stewardship for 2023 is about being Together for Joy. Because when we come here, and experience the power of Christ together, we have the strength, the peace, the joy, the love we need to claim Jesus’ power with us throughout our daily life, and we develop the eyes to see God’s power at work in the world and to participate in the good, in the power of love where we work and live.

So know that the hairs on your head are counted, that Jesus has saved you and that the battle is already won. Don’t dwell on the problems of this world, but dwell on the victory that Christ has won and focus on where God asks you to show up as a person of love and hope who lives by the victory of the kingdom and not the anxiety of this age.

This week I want you to pray the news every day—Do not dwell on it and listen over and over--give up the 24-hour news cycle. Why give anxiety free rent in your rent. As you read, watch, or listen to the news once a day, and I mean once a day--one newscast—pray for those affected by headlines. Ask where is God at work in this situation, ask for faith in Christ’s victory over evil.

If there is one situation that breaks your heart, ask if there is an action God calls you take to be a witness for hope. At the end or your prayer, affirm this truth, “Not a hair of my head will perish, for I am risen with Christ for eternity.”

Nothing in all of creation can separate you or this world, from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. God wins.

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Our Inheritance Today

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Published: Sunday, 27 November 2022 15:21

Please pray for my dad, Roger who has been in the hospital in both Oct. and Nov. He's home now and we hope for a full recovery! I am trying o catch up to Advent on my posting! Thank you for your patience and prayers! :)

All Saints, Ephesians 1:11-23 and Luke 6:20-31. St. Luke's Lutheran Church, Richardson, Texas

One of Hollywood's favorite plot devices is the reading of the Last Will and Testament. We have witnessed this scene dozens of times: the family is gathered in a law office, a lawyer, usually a man in a dark suit with glasses, begins to read. There’s a familiar cadre of family members leaning in to learn what their fate will be. There’s usually a much younger, often gold-digging spouse, a dead-beat kid, an over-achieving kid who did everything right, often the kid who was never good enough, and lastly there are the hangers-on—a stepchild, a long lost brother, a bitter business partner–all showing up to get their due.

They all hope to find out not just about the money, but how much they were loved. And we cannot wait for the surprise twists:

• It may be to settle a score: “I have always known that you were cheating on me, and now I leave you nothing.”
• It might reveal unexpressed love: “I have always loved you and regret I never had the courage to tell you. I leave you my beach house in the Caymans.”
• Often it’s a way to reveal secrets: “The maid who tended me so faithfully is actually my love-child, whose mother I met while on tour with the band.”
• Or it offers a redemptive twist: “I now regret that my millions were made at the expense of poisoning the ocean, so I leave my entire estate to Greenpeace.”

These dramatic ploys are popular and effective because they play on our own deepest anxieties: Will I be remembered? Do I make a difference to others? Will there be enough for me? Am I loved? Is there a more powerful moment of explicitly hearing approval, of knowing for sure whether or not we were loved, than the reading of a Will?

The issue with these worries and anxieties, is that it seems like a zero-sum game. This scene often happens at the end of the movie or TV episode—there is only so much money to go around; there is only so much love to be shared. There are winners and there are losers. No wonder everyone is full of anxiety.

The very first chapter of Ephesians includes the reading of a Will and Testament—it's God's Will and Testament for us. But this Will and Testament is far different from the ones that we encounter in the movies. Ephesians does not contain a LAST will and testament that is only revealed at the end of our lives; no, this is a FIRST will and testament read at the beginning of the letter to the Ephesians. Indeed, it is shared with us at the very beginning of our lives of faith.

Paul in Ephesians says: In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.

Paul is saying that God has made us God's own heirs and that everyone is guaranteed an inheritance. Why say this up front? Why put this at the beginning of the letter rather than the end? Because the Christian faith is not designed to leave us in the dark, to keep us hanging, anxious and worried about God's love and intention for us, but rather our faith and relationship with Jesus is to free us up for joyful and hopeful lives, here and now.

God sent Jesus that we might have life and have it more abundantly-- not if we behave, not if we are perfect, not if God is in the right mood.

No, God has made us children of God and has given us an eternal inheritance in Jesus Christ so we have no doubts, no anxiety, no worry about whether we are loved and forgiven, or about whether we matter to God or whether our life makes a difference. We will not be sitting in a stuffy office to find this out.

This isn't a “let's wait and see if we are good enough to earn God's love” gospel.
This isn't a “we can never be sure if we are on God's favored list" gospel.

This is a “God’s love for you in Jesus Christ is boundless and given without reserve” gospel.
This is a “God loves you so much that God wants you to know that NOW, upfront, FIRST, with no hesitation” good news!
This is a no-suspense, no anxiety, no drama FIRST Will and Testament!
There is only God's love and the hope that it provides–not just for you, but EVERYONE in abundance–a limitless well gospel!

God answers the questions: Will I be remembered? Do I make a difference to others? Will there be enough for me? Am I loved? before we barely have a chance to ask them!

The answer is:
have no worry or anxiety,
God made you and loves you,
God sent Jesus to make sure you know that you matter to God,
and your life makes a difference because Jesus’ love and God’s presence shine through you.

Our life in God’s care is signed, sealed and delivered in our Baptism–which we receive at the beginning of our life of faith–it’s our First Will and Testament.

So we receive God's lavish and overflowing inheritance, love, forgiveness and abundance up front, first and foremost,

• so we can know it’s true deep down to our soul and into our bones
• so we can live joyfully and free from anxiety and
• so that we can share it with others,
• so we can help bring about God's Kingdom on Earth.

And in case we missed this reading of the will early in this passage, Paul reemphasizes the point: I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.

This is an inheritance that enriches us here and now and finds its ultimate fulfillment when we die and are born into eternal life.

Today we celebrate the saints who have gone before us in the faith–don’t you imagine they would tell the inheritance that matters–the one to expend our energy on is the inheritance of our life in Jesus Christ, the blessings of which we experience here and now?

As we remember them, we do so affirming that they have received the fulfillment of their inheritance in Christ. Not because they were good or faithful or hard-working or committed – even though they may have been.

They have received their crown of righteousness, not because of who they were, but because of who God is.

And even better – they haven’t used it up! This is an inheritance that cannot be used up or given to one at the expense of another because it is rooted in the immeasurable, unlimited greatness of God's power and love. There’s no zero sum! There is still an abundance of grace, forgiveness and eternity left for the rest of us!

The news of this inheritance is not just offered once, but is shared with us over and over again:

At our baptism, and every time we remember our baptism in the Forgiveness of sin that we hear every Sunday, in Passing the Peace of Christ which we share with each otherm
in receiving Communion together at the Table of our Lord, in sharing the light and love of Christ with other in relationships– in prayer, love, listening, support, joy, conversation, assistance, laughter, and community.

So this frees us up to live as Jesus calls us to in the Sermon on Plain as it’s called in Luke. We don’t have to compete with others, we don’t have to hoard possessions and resources, we don’t have to win, we don’t have to earn it.

We are released from anxiety and worry, so we can live in hope and share our blessings with others, because our abundant God is going to provide what we need. Every time I tithe and give away resources something else comes my way–I am always provided for. We can love our enemy and do good to those who hate us. Why? Because they need to see and hear through us, of the inheritance available for them in Jesus Christ.

God calls us to be the messengers of this great inheritance through our behavior in the world. We can rejoice with those who already know the blessings of this inheritance. We can witness to those who are full, and rich, but still racked with anxiety about whether they are loved, have purpose or will have enough.

We can share that they too, have this great inheritance already, so all their stuff, and all their worry does not need to get in the way of true joy, and real love, and being freed by the deep acceptance of undeserved forgiveness and relationship with Jesus Christ.

I love movies for entertainment, but God’s First Will and Testament says there is an infinite supply of grace, love and hope in Jesus Christ. You will be remembered, just as we remember the saints today; for your name is already written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

So live lives of joyful hope, freed of worry and anxiety, and invite others to share with us the abundant inheritance we all receive now in Jesus Christ.

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